The Harder I Fall, the Higher I Bounce: Life Lessons From the Entrepreneur Dubbed the King of Kiosks by Fortune Magazine by Max James

Author:Max James [James, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B09D352KWT
Publisher: Made For Success Publishing
Published: 2021-10-18T18:30:00+00:00

I truly was living in that “tall cotton” like I was the plantation owner, when, in fact, it cost more per day to operate that yacht than I was being paid in a year.

On the flight back to Beirut on that beautifully appointed private 737, Adnan came out of his sleeping quarters, sat down on the couch beside me, and once again wanted to fully discuss the three alternative investment categories we were examining. To this day, I suspect that he had already made up his mind and was using me as a sounding board. Although my ego probably rationalized that some of what I had to offer was useful.

In any event, he told me that he had decided that the safest investment was the one he was going to go after for his investors—at least initially. And that was the banking investment. I was surprised (and a little disappointed) since that was the one of the three I had not been involved with. Plus, I came from the farm/agriculture, and my so-called field of expertise was also real estate.

When we landed in Beirut, Adnan said that he wanted me to go to the Vendome Hotel, where the attorney who had hired me and I were staying. I was to let the attorney know of the decision. I really did not want to do that, as I knew the attorney would be furious. He had seriously wanted the agricultural deal to win the day. He truly felt that there would be simpatico with the so-called “desert investors.” The idea of bringing Saudi wealth, much of which had moved into the Middle East during the Arab Oil Embargo, back into the United States while exporting U.S. agricultural technology to Saudi Arabia to make the deserts highly productive with food production was a dream of his and met his financial objectives for the future of Adnan’s organizations.

I strongly suggested to Adnan that he should be the one to tell the attorney. Guess who won that debate! But there was still a compromise. If I would deliver the “bad news” to the attorney, then I was to get right back to the airport and head for Venezuela! WHAT! Why would I want to go there? Seems that Onassis had an island, so Adnan wanted one—and had found an available one off the coast of Venezuela. But there was more. If I would do this, then I should go on to Acapulco, check on the various villas that we had purchased at Las Brisas, and invite my wife to join me there. Now that was a sales offer that I bought into, so off I went.

Eventually, I took the actions to back up the change I needed and flew to a Board of Directors’ meeting in Salt Lake City. I was the chairman of the Board of the Salt Lake International Center, a 1,000-acre industrial park we were developing near the airport. I resigned from the board, and 30 days later, I was living in Sacramento.

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